Newspapers provide reports from all over the world. The “Arkansas Democrat Gazette”, for example, offers regional, national and foreign press coverage. The “Arkansas Democrat Gazette” is a regional newspaper leader for the Little Rock metropolitan area. The paper supplies everything from local news stories to content from the Associated Press. Viewing old newspaper articles from the “Arkansas Democrat Gazette” is a straightforward process and is available to anyone who completes a simple online registration.

Visit the official “Arkansas Democrat Gazette” website (arkansasonline.com). Scroll to and click the “News” tab on the main menu. Choose the “Archives” tab at the bottom of the news list.

The “Alexandria Gazette and Daily Advertiser” (usually referred to as just the “Alexandria Gazette”) was a Virginia newspaper published every day except Sunday between 1834 and 1974. Like most major newspapers, it published obituaries, which you can still locate even though the paper itself is long out of print.

Check the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., which carries the complete “Alexandria Gazette” on microfilm. Go to the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room at 101 Independence Ave. SE, Madison Building, LM-133, Washington, DC 20540-4760 (202-707-5690). It’s open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s closed on federal holidays and Sundays.

Bring up the phrase “colonial newspapers” and the mind immediately leaps to Benjamin Franklin. Franklin owned a printing press in Philadelphia and published many newspapers, newsletters and letters during his time. Colonial newspapers featured many articles during the French-Indian War, the lead up to the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and finally to Washington’s election as first president of the United States. In an era of industrial and political revolution, colonial newspapers brought the news to the common people much the same way they do today.

The first newspaper published in Colonial America was “Publick Occurences: Both Foreign and Domestick.” More newsletter than newspaper, it lasted just one issue due to the public’s outrage. Fourteen years would pass before the next colonial newspaper would launch. “The Boston-Newsletter,” published in 1704, published weekly under the editorship of Post Master John Campbell. His successor, William Brooker, wished to continue the newsletter, but Campbell refused to release the name. Brooker went around him by titling his paper “The Boston Gazette.” The first issue appeared on 1719. When Philip Musgrave became post master, he continued the Gazette’s publishing. In 1721, James Franklin, the man who provided the printing for “The Boston-Newsletter,” launched a third paper for the Boston area called “The New England Courrant.” It earned a place in history when James’s younger brother Benjamin Franklin wrote a series of letters to the paper under the pseudonym Silas Do Good. “The New England Courrant” would be published with Ben Franklin’s name listed as publisher when James was sent to prison for his constant criticisms of the government.